Meet 2016 Curtis Cup Captains

Elaine Farquharson Black, of Scotland, was a member of the victorious 1992 Great Britain and Ireland Team, which defeated the USA at Royal Liverpool (Hoylake), 10-8. She has said her proudest moment in golf was standing on the first tee in the 1992 Match and hearing, “On the tee, representing Great Britain and Ireland,” so she understands how special that feeling will be for her eight players at Dun Laoghaire. Farquharson Black first played the game at the age of 5 with her father at a local pitch-and-putt course in her native Aberdeen. From there, she enjoyed a successful junior career that included winning the Scottish Girls Championship and the Helen Holm Trophy as well as finishing runner-up to Helen Hewlett at the Ladies British Amateur Championship in 1989. Farquharson Black and Hewlett partnered to win the World 4 Ball Championship. Farquharson Black also draws inspiration from the late Seve Ballesteros, whom she saw captain the victorious 1997 European Ryder Cup Team at Valderama in Spain.

The Houston, Texas, resident has competed in more than 35 USGA championships, including three U.S. Women’s Opens. She was the runner-up to Silvia Cavalleri in the 1997 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Brae Burn Country Club in West Newton, Mass. The following year, she was a member of the victorious USA Curtis Cup Team that earned a 10-8 decision at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis. Burke paired with 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Virginia Derby Grimes for a pair of foursomes victories, but lost her lone singles match. Burke has advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship three times, and was the stroke-play medalist in 2003 at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Her 38 match-play victories tie her with four-time champion Meghan Stasi for the third-most in championship history, trailing only past Curtis Cup captains Ellen Port (58 victories; 2014 captain) and Carol Semple Thompson (56 victories; 2006, 2008 captain). Burke also has represented Texas in four USGA Women’s State Team Championships, including runner-up finishes in 1995 and 2011. Burke won the 2001 Ione D. Jones/Doherty Championship as well as the 1992 and 2001 Women’s Southern Amateur. She claimed consecutive Texas Women’s Amateur titles in 1990 and 1991, and is an eight-time Greater Houston Women’s City Amateur champion. She is married to two-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Jackie Burke Jr. Jackie played on five U.S. Ryder Cup Teams and was twice a captain. The Burkes own Champions Golf Club in Houston, site of the 1969 U.S. Open (Orville Moody) and 1993 U.S. Amateur (John Harris).